


The Robin in Space

by BrotherBat



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Batfamily (DCU), Bounty Hunters, Brotherly Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21348748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrotherBat/pseuds/BrotherBat
Summary: Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian are bounty hunters in a world where most of our galaxy has been colonized by humans. They lack teamwork at the best of times, but this latest job could be their most catastrophic failure yet. Can they overcome their differences and finish what they started?
Relationships: Barbara Gordon & Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Kudos: 21





	1. Tip of the Iceberg: Part One

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the Batgirls not being in this first chapter, but I had to establish the setting and premise of the story, I promise they and their relevant relationships will feature heavily in all future chapters. Thanks for reading! :D

**Dick's POV**

I knew I shouldn't have eaten that burrito earlier. But the job seemed easy, what could be the harm? We're just going to the slums of Mars to deal with some up and coming street gang, we've dealt with way worse than that. I certainly won't be separated from everyone else and have to do any running down alleys from half-penguin people with gun-

BANG!

"Stay right there!"

"Okay, you got me, I'll stay still. But do you mind if I just lean against this wall instead of putting my hands up?" I say as I lean back and look at the group that's been chasing me, "Aaaahhh, that's better. Sorry, my lunch really isn't agreeing with me right now."

For penguin human hybrids, these guys really are fast. I suppose that's the bonus of still having their human legs and just taking penguin feet.

"We know who you are, Dick Grayson! You and your other bounty hunter friends have bitten off more than you can chew this time."

"Haha, just this time? I don't think you know us at all. And why did you have to bring up chewing? Didn't I just tell you about my lunch?"

Clearly not amused by my bloated charm, they slowly start to approach me. There's six of them, all with slightly different penguin like features. Most of them are small things except for the guy with flippers, I'd feel sorry for him if he didn't look so damn serious.

"Put your hands behind your back!" they command as they start to creep closer.

They're being very cautious, probably been told not to underestimate me. Which is a shame because I love it when people do that.

VVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Sadly for them, they were too busy worrying about me and forgot about my brothers. I start to back away.

"You know, when I heard a gang was calling themselves penguins and looked like they had beaks and stuff, I was so certain it was just a bunch of losers dressing up. You sure have proven me wrong."

As the noise of my favourite engine gets louder they all start to look around, which is the perfect opportunity for me to grab my grappling gun in preparation. Then I see what I've been waiting for, our beautiful ship The Robin, flying above the corner behind them.

"You're a bunch of losers for sure, but you're not playing dress up, you live it."

Thankfully The Robin seems to have most of their attention now. Well except for flippers guy, I need to keep an eye on him.

"But hey, there is one consolation for you in this whole situation. You get to watch my ass as I fly away."

I swiftly pull out my grappling gun and shoot, latching it onto the side of the ship as it flies above us. My feet start to lift into the air. I'm finally away from these crazy bird pe-

WHACK!

"OW!"

I yell as Mr Flippers slaps my hand. He must have some crazy super strength or something. I can't keep holding on with this pain in my hand, I let go and crash back down to the ground. Man, this guy is hardcore!

I scramble off the floor and grip my hand as I desperately try to run back towards The Robin.

"TIM!" I yell, "COME BACK, I SCREWED UP!"

The ship turns around before I even finish screaming, I'm lucky Tim is the one driving. He starts to lower the ship and opens the side door. I can climb in easily, but I really need to outrun these guys. I can't let them get onto the ship. And I've got an injured hand as well as a burrito weighing me down now.

BANG! BANG!

Oh! And that's right, they've got guns too, almost forgot about that.

As I get closer I can see Tim in the pilot's seat through the window, and with the look he's giving me I know he's not going to leave, even if these guys catch up to me. Which is just the sort of reason I need to push myself a little bit further. But as I hear the weird flapping sound that I've learned today is the sound penguin feet make when hitting the floor, I look back and see Flippers is right behind me. Gasping for air, I take a risk and leap as far as I can. As I'm falling, I realise I'm actually going to land in the ship, but that's when I remember... I can't break my fall with an injured hand.

I hit the floor of the ship hard, but manage to roll to lessen the impact on my back. I hear a loud slap and look out the door as Tim starts to lift The Robin back up. Flippers guy is desperately trying to cling onto the side, but he's unable to find any grip and slips back to the ground.

"That's what you get Flippy!" I shout down to him as I close the door with my good hand.

"Are you okay, Dick?" Tim asks, looking back from the pilot's seat.

I walk into the cockpit and sit next to him before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry about me, thanks for the save. Where are Jason and Damian?"

"Nowhere good."

**Damian's POV**

Typical Grayson getting separated, now I have to do the rest of this job with Todd.

"I'm going after Dick, since you guys abandoned him," comes through my earpiece from the ship's communicator.

Still, I suppose it could be worse, Drake could be with us instead of flying The Robin.

"We didn't abandon him, the bird guys cornered him and we're taking advantage by looking for their stash undetected. Besides, we knew you'd have his back," replies Todd to Drake.

"Stash?" comes back through our earpieces.

"Well their leader too obviously..." Todd attempts to cover his ass. He probably wants to take some for himself, as far as I'm concerned these criminals don't deserve to live, so taking a little of their stuff isn't the problem. But it always gets us into more trouble, if not with the criminals, then with Grayson. So I'd like to avoid that if I can, his lectures are a bore...

We wander fairly aimlessly around this dilapidated area, waiting to find another member of the gang to follow. I prefer to work with some evidence but this whole job has been rushed, when aren't they? This crew has been a mess since I joined it, and I'm sure it was even worse beforehand. But this is the best place to be while I work on finding my-

"Damian, stop for a second. I found one, right over there," Todd grips my shoulder and points out as he interrupts my thoughts, although of course I was paying attention and noticed before him...

"Lucky us, he's alone," I reply before we start to follow him, making sure to keep our distance.

He seems to be wandering as aimlessly as we were. Knowing how these missions usually go, he's probably a complete imbecile and doesn't know where the gang's base is. At least Todd is staying quiet to not draw any attention, which means I don't have to put up with any idle chatter.

Eventually, probably just by chance, the gang member we've been following stops near a door that looks like it leads to a basement. I'm glad I upgraded my binoculars, knowing a situation like this would occur. I get them out of my utility belt and use the increased and precise zoom to watch our man. Todd nudges me, I hate it when he does that.

"What's he doing?" he asks.

"Don't you have some binoculars yourself?" I groan.

"Not fancy high tech ones."

"Well that's not my problem," I reply, trying to ignore him now as I watch our man knock on the door. I see, it's a secret knock. Two swift knocks with his right hand, one with his left and then a swipe from left to right while he, let's just zoom in further here, while he taps his fingers along the door. Ha, such a simple code, amateurs. As he enters the basement I put my binoculars away and turn to Todd, he's giving me an expectant but definitely annoyed look.

"Don't worry Todd, I've got a plan. Now follow my lead."

I start to walk casually towards the basement door. I can just about hear his footsteps behind mine, he doesn't trust me, which is surprising since he's usually the first one to suggest stupid plans.

As I arrive at the door, I check that Todd is in fact still behind me before copying the secret knock exactly. There's a pause. No one seems to come to the door... strange, perhaps I should try again.

"So, when does this plan of yours star-" Todd gets cut off from asking as the door swiftly opens and-

"UTT!"

**Jason's POV**

Whoa! They just punched Damian in the face! He looks out.

"SCREW YOU!" I yell.

I attempt to return the favour by swinging a couple fists at Damian's assailant. My left hand connects with his cheek before I uppercut him with my right, sending him back down the stairs on the other side of the door. Which is when I realise, in my brief spark of rage over Damian, I hadn't noticed the other men standing there waiting to kick my ass.

"Well," I say as I ready myself, "Bring it."

There are seven guys and all of them run at me, there's no way I'm going to win this. But I never give up, I'm taking them down with me. I need to do this step by step, use my experience to my advantage. So step one, take out as many as I can before they get too close. I kick one of their knees as they get close enough, he drops to the floor so it looks like I did some damage. I rotate, using my other leg to kick another guy's hand, hoping to break it. I don't get to see if it worked though as another one tries to clothesline me, I duck in time but then a different guy kicks me in the face, knocking me to the floor. This isn't going to work, there's too many of them. I try to elbow some of them as they lift me off the floor together, but they're careful about holding my arms and keeping me under control. That is, until they push me down the stairs...

"Uff- ah- oh- nnnn," I grind out of gritted teeth as I roll down to the basement, the stone steps digging into my back before I hit my head on the floor below.

"Bring the boy in and shut the door!" one of the gang members commands. My head is pretty fuzzy right now, but that didn't sound like it came from up the stairs, there must be a guy down here too. I look up from the floor and see four men carrying an unconscious Damian down. They shouldn't need that many men for that, these guys really are stupid... Just like Damian's plan, what the hell was that meant to be anyway? That is the last time I trust that brat's strategies.

"What about James and Greg? They look pretty hurt," asks one of the guys up the stairs.

"Leave them outside."

This is bad. Okay, think, how do we get out of this? Guh! It's hard to think of ideas when my head is poundin- as I reach to grab my head, my finger strokes my earpiece. That's when it hits me, I know our best way out, although I hate to do it. I carefully reach for the button on my earpiece, trying to make sure none of these assholes can see while I watch them tie Damian to a chair.

"Tim," I whisper as I activate it, "We're in a bad spot here, probably going to need some hel- Oof!"

"Who you talking to?" asks someone as he kicks me in the stomach. I grip the area in pain before looking up at him. Wow, this guy is one ugly mother-

"Jason?... I'm approaching Dick now. Once I pick him up, we'll head straight to you guys. Hang in there," comes through my earpiece before this guy pulls it out. Seriously he looks like a wrinkly penguin, but I don't think he's had any surgery or experiments like the others, this is definitely their leader. He puts on the earpiece before throwing it to the ground.

"Doesn't matter, I think it's clear you're outnumbered here. Even with your friends for backup," he says before turning to his men. This is my chance!

"Tie this one uuuf-" he says as I take the opportunity to do a neat spin and sweep his legs.

I try to quickly lift myself off the ground, but my head feels even worse after spinning around like that. I manage to stand up as the gang all run towards me, again, screw this. I can't fight them so I just run ahead and attempt to bulldoze straight through. I manage to knock a couple of them back, but the others grab me and use my momentum to ram me back into the ground.

CLICK!

Damn it... I know that sound. I force my head up from the ground and see what I was dreading. Their leader back on his feet, holding a gun to Damian's head. I should have just stalled until Tim got here, too damn impulsive...

"You calm now?" he asks.

"You creepy son of a-"

"Good, now you're going to stay still while my associates tie you up, or I'm going to put a bullet through his brain. We clear?" he warns, smiling with what I've just noticed are really sharp teeth.

"Crystal," I growl as his men start to tie my hands and feet, before placing me in a chair next to Damian and tying me to that as well.

"Are you sure those knots are tight enough?" I ask, trying to put some fear into them. It's usually my best tactic but they only seem a little rattled. They're probably just crazy though, I'm definitely not losing my edge. Could also be the whole tied up with a head injury thing, but looking at these guys, I'm going with the crazy. I look at Damian next to me, he's still out, that must have been one hard hit. Definitely no easy escape then, so back to what should have been plan one, stalling.

"So what do I call you anyway?" I ask as I look back to the asshole with the gun.

"Penguin," he says, his face remaining still and serious as he keeps his gun resting against Damian's head.

"Penguin? I would never have guessed, very original," I reply as I start to nod sarcastically.

"Funny, you're judging me for my choices when you ran straight into a trap."

"A trap?" I ask.

"Well, less a trap more convenient timing really. No matter though," he says as he starts to back away, keeping his gun on us. "Either way you most certainly are trapped. So now it's time for us to take our leave. Gentlemen, with me," he says as he starts to walk up the stairs and out of the basement. God damn it, I barely kept him here at all!

"You've only tied us up! That's not exactly a trap you moron!" I yell, hoping to goad him into staying.

He stops for a second, and I wonder if I've just made a huge mistake.

"Oh did I forget to mention the explosives? Well... goodbye, it was most definitely not a pleasure to meet you."

"AAAARRRRRRRR!" I growl as I hear the door slam. I start to fidget, desperately trying to untie myself. Have to get up and get Damian out of here, I have no idea how much time we have, I look back towards him-

Wait, did he just wink at me?

"Damian..." I say hesitantly as I continue adjusting the ropes.

"Suuurpriiiiiise," he says as he lifts his head, he looks pretty drowsy though.

"You okay, kid? You look pretty bad..."

"I'm fine, I was awake the whooooole time, I even untied myself, see!" he says as he lifts his arms, causing the ropes around him to drop to the floor.

He's so bullshitting about being fine, but first priority is to get the hell out of here.

"Good, just untie me and we can run out before this place blows," I say as I try to shimmy around, bringing the knots closer to him.

"Blows?" he asks, looking pretty confused. Fucking knew he was bullshitting.

"Doesn't matter, just untie me!" I insist, wiggling my arms desperately.

"Yeah, yeah, easy... there," he says as he cuts the rope with a knife from his utility belt, freaking love that thing.

"Okay, now come on!" I yell as I quickly lift him up and throw him over my shoulder, before running up the stairs.

"Heeeey! Put me down! I'm-"

I push the door and- SHIT! They locked it.

"Shut up, Damian! I have to think!"

"Think? About what? WHAT'S GOING OOO-"

"FUCK THIS!" I yell as I put all my strength into one huge kick at the door.

WHAM!

It flings open.

Thank god, we're finally out of that-

VRRRRRVRRRRRRVRRRRRRR!

What's that sound?

That's not The Robin- oh crap.

"What's that noise?" Damian asks.

"Batgirls..."


	2. Tip of the Iceberg: Part Two

**Tim's POV**

"They always manage to find a way to get us into more trouble," I say as I add Jason's tracker to The Robin's interface.

"Don't be so hard on them, Timmy. If I hadn't got caught first, maybe I'd still be there to help them out."

"You shouldn't keep letting them off the hook for this stuff you know."

Or one day they'll get into a mess too big for us to save them...

"You know I don't do that. But trust me, there's no need to worry."

"How do you do that?" I ask.

"Do what?"

"You always know what I'm thinking, if I'm worrying, or anything. You just-"

"Because I know you, Tim. It's fine, it's not because you're easy to read or anything like that, none of the bad guys are going to take advantage. I just know you care about those guys more than you let on."

I wish I knew anyone that well. I mean, I feel like I know Dick really well. But to be able to read people like he can, that's just on another level. If I could only learn one thing from him, it would be that.

"But trust me, it will be fine," he continues, "the important thing right now is that we focus on getting them safe. Then we capture the leader. Then I can worry about lecturing them. At no point do you need to worry, okay?"

"The funny thing is, that just leaves me with another question. How do you always know the right thing to s-"

BEEP BEEP BEEEP!

"Ohh no..." Dick says as he looks at the screen.

"What is it? Who's calling us? How did they get our-"

"It's the Batgirls."

Oh... as if I didn't have enough to think about.

"As if we didn't have enough to deal with..." Dick sighs as he leans his head back.

"How did you..."

"How did I what?" he asks, looking confused. I should really stop with the questions for now.

"Don't worry," I say with a smile.

"You're right, I should take my own advice. Here we go."

He answers the call, "Hey Barbara," he says as he waves at the camera. I check the screen and instantly notice how serious she looks, well after looking for Steph anyway.

"Dick, what the hell are you doing?" she asks before sighing.

"We're just after a bounty, probably same as you," he says with a smile.

"Yeah, exactly the same. We're after the Penguin, except the difference is, we actually did our homework before diving in head first."

"Now to be fair, you always were better at that part of the job than me. You can't hold us all to your golden standard, Babs."

"That's not the point, Dick..." she says, sounding pretty disappointed.

"Then what is the point? Why'd you call?"

"We've been following these guys carefully all night, waiting to make our move. And Jason and some kid have just walked into a whole lot of trouble."

"Wait? You're near them?" he asks, leaning toward the screen, suddenly more alert

Thank god, as much as I hate to admit it, I have more faith in them being able to save the others than us.

"Yeah. We're waiting for the Penguin to leave the building they're in, then we're going to corner him outside. We can run in and help your guys too, but we're definitely going to talk about how we share this bounty between us."

"Please do, I'm not sure we'll get there in time, we don't even know what's going on there to be honest with you. The boy with him is Damian by the way, I'll introduce you when this is over," Dick says as his smile returns.

"That'd be nice," she replies, finally smiling as well. "I have someone for you to meet too. When this is-"

"Babs!" Oh no... "They're coming out- Oh, hi Tim..."

"Uh, hey Steph."

"Can we deal with this later, Stephanie?" Barbara says as she turns to her friend, "I believe you were in the middle of telling me-"

"Right, right. It's go time. I'll see you soon, Tim!" she says before running back away from the camera.

"I guess we'll see you guys in the action, Barbara out."

That was... awkward.

Dick turns to me as the call ends, "So bad news, we just lost at least half our bounty. Good news, they'll probably do a better job of helping them out than we would have."

Wait? Even Dick thinks that?

"Plus," he says, "you'll get to see Steph, which I know is what you really care about."

He gives me a wink.

"Says you! You couldn't help but smile as soon as you saw Barbara, even with the others in trouble!"

"I was not smiling."

"You totally were."

"Well, hopefully my smile will convince her to let us keep half the bounty," he says as he leans back into his chair.

Grrrrr!

Dick looks down at his stomach as it rumbles.

"Yeah, I don't think Damian would like our we're running out of food money diet."

"Well I think that was more because of the burrit- Oh wow, you're right Tim! Damian is the perfect excuse, no way she'd leave a boy starving... I'll make sure she agrees before she meets him though, just in case," he says with a small chuckle as I burst out laughing.

As we start to calm down, I can't help but ask.

"So even you think the Batgirls are better than us?"

He looks at me for a second, like he's thinking of what to say. It's a small thing, but I very rarely see Dick do it. Then he shifts back to a smile.

"Tim-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Where was that-" he starts to ask before he sees the explosion ahead of us... directly where Jason's tracker was.

**Dick's POV**

"It's okay, don't panic," I find myself saying to Tim, but mostly just for me.

"We'll be there soon, I'll- uh... I'll lower the ship," he replies.

I leave the cockpit and slide the side door of the ship open, scanning ahead for my brothers. But there's too much smoke, I can't make anything out. As we continue forward for a few minutes, all I can think about is Tim's question. If I'm honest with myself, that's the main reason I left the cockpit, I'd see fine out of the windscreen, I just... I don't have a useful answer. The fact that he asked if even I thought, implies he does, and knowing Jason he probably does too. Although he'd never admit it. Tim will probably worry that I didn't answer, but I think the damage to team morale by me saying I actually agree would be much worse. I'm meant to be the optimist. Always looking for the best... but even I feel useless sometimes with how our mission have been going lately. I guess we can add this one to the lis-

"Brace yourself!" Tim warns before the ship touches the ground.

We're there! I swiftly jump out of the ship and start to wade through the smoke and ash below.

"Cough! Cough!"

I can't stay out here too long like this-

VRRRRRVRRRRRRVRRRRRRR!

I feel a huge gust of wind as I recognise that sound, The Bat 2.0's engine. I'll never get over the fact that Lucius actually made a second Bat just for Barbara. I walk towards the noise carefully. The closer I get the more the smoke seems to clear, until I'm finally close enough to understand.

"Whoa... The Bat can clear smoke? Man, they always get the cool stuff first," I say to myself as I look around, noticing the smoke is clearing out in a circular pattern from the ship.

"Thanks for the save and all, but we could have handled it."

Jason! I turn my head towards his voice and see him, holding Damian over his shoulder. Oh thank god!

I activate my earpiece.

"Tim, I see them, they're fine."

"Oh wow, that's great. The smoke seems to be clearing, so I'll come join you guys in a minute."

"See you soon bro," I say before running towards the others.

"Jason, you're okay!" I shout.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Damian and I both took pretty big hits to the head, but I think I just have a headache, he probably has a concussion though, but he'll be okay."

"I'm fine, so you could... put me down," Damian says drowsily.

"Pretty sure you wouldn't be able to stand right now if you tried, so not happening. Which is fine, because thanks to the Batgirls, our job here is done."

He says as he points behind him, where I see Stephanie and Cass standing in the rubble left by the explosion, tying up who I assume to be the Penguin.

"You still don't know where all the stolen goods are!" he shouts, "but we can talk, I'll make a deal, you let me go and- OOPH!"

He's interrupted as Cassandra delivers a swift kick to his face.

"Yeah... that's Cassandra," says Steph as she stands there with her arms folded, "You might be able to tell, she's not much of a talker. But man can she throw a punch. And since all your little friends ran away, you're our only source of information. So here's the deal, you tell us everything, including where the goods are, or maybe I'll leave you alone in the ship with her. See how that conversation goes."

"You can't kill me," he says before spitting some blood from his mouth to the ground, "Or you'll lose your precious bounty, they asked for me alive."

"Alive, yeah. But they didn't specify anything about how many of your bones could be broken. Come on, let's take him back to the ship."

"Wait!" he says as they start to drag him away, "You can't- I won't tell- Arrrrrr!" he growls.

Wow, they're even better at this than I remembered. I wish our interrogations went that well, we always end up arguing in front of the bounty about how to do it.

"So," I hear from behind me, "I'd say we earned at least sixty percent of the bounty."

I turn around to see Barbara wheeling herself towards me. It's been a while since I've seen her in person, she looks good- wait, did she say sixty percent?

"Babs, come on, sixty? I mean, I get your point-"

"I don't."

"Jason, let me handle this, okay? You're not helping. Listen, Babs, I get it. You did a lot of work and you clearly finished off the job and even helped out Jason an-"

"They didn't help us! I was the one that got us out of that basement! They arrived after we were practically safe."

"Jason!" I warn.

"No, he does have a point actually. We finished the bounty but he solved his own situation."

"Oh, well okay, sorry Jason for-"

"Listen Dick, this isn't pity money or anything, but that kid's like what? Eight? Nine?" Barbara asks.

"I'm ten," Damian groans.

"He's ten," Jason repeats.

"Right, look, I know you don't always live well with how many bounties tend to get away and... I'll give you fifty five percent, but this is a onetime deal. You need to start getting your act together."

"Thanks Babs, we really do appreciate it, right Jason?" I say looking back towards him.

"...Right."

"Okay, good. Now that that's settled, are you going to introduce me to your new recruit?"

"Oh, of course. Umm... do you mind handing Damian to me, Jason?" I say trying to stifle some awkward laughter.

"This is ridiculous... I can stand up," Damian says. But his body stays limp as Jason helps me get him on my back, so I can give him a piggyback ride.

"So Damian, this is Barbara Gordon. Barbara, this is Damian Wayne."

"Pleasure," says Damian.

"Wait... Wayne? As in?"

"Yup, meet Bruce's son," I say, giving her a smile.

Babs wheels her chair closer to get a better look at him. Without even seeing Damian's face I can feel him scowling at her.

"Ha, he's Bruce's son alright," she says as she moves back, "So how did you find each other?"

"I'm looking for my father," Damian says, "Grayson promised to help me."

"Yeah..." I say as me and Barbara give each other a knowing look, finding Bruce will be no easy task.

"Actually, so..." Here it comes, I can see the cogs start to turn in her head, "Who's his mo-"

"Anyway," I say trying to move on from that awkward topic, "You said there was someone for me to meet too?"

"Oh right!" she says as she reaches for her earpiece, "Tiffany, come out here, I have some people for you to meet."

I look towards The Bat and see a young girl walk out, she's got to be around Damian's age, if not a little younger. Hang on... I'm sure I've seen her somewhere before. The girl arrives and stands next to Babs.

"Tiffany, this is Dick Grayson. Dick, this is Tiffany Fox."

I knew it!

"Hi!" she says with a wave.

"Hello, Tiffany," I say giving her a similar wave, only briefly though as Damian's leg slips before I pick it back up again. "You're Lucius' daughter, right?"

"Yup," she says, giving me a shy smile.

Well that explains why their ship gets all the cool upgrades first then.

"He even trusts you with his daughter. I don't think he would have let us take Luke," I say to Barbara.

"I don't know about that-"

"Well," I say cutting her off again, got to stop doing that, "I did ask Luke once... and even he turned me down so..."

We both start to chuckle.

"So how are you liking your travels so far, Tiffany?" I ask.

"It's been great! We get to kick bad guys butts, although they make me stay in the ship sometimes still. But everyone's so nice, I mean Cassandra's scary to the bad guys, but she's really sweet to everyone else."

"Sounds like a good fit."

"Hey, Dick!" I hear before looking up.

"Oh, hi Tim!"

"Oh thank god I don't have to listen to this anymore. Tim!" Jason calls out from behind me, "Where's the ship?"

He points behind him and Jason starts to walk in that direction.

"Wait, Jason. Take Damian, keep an eye on him and let him rest in the medic bay until I get back. Cass has probably got that Penguin guy talking by now, and I want to see what he has to say."

"Fine," he says with a sigh, before collecting Damian off my back. He carries him like I did this time and walks back to The Robin.

**Tim's POV**

"Listen, Tim," Jason says as he passes me, "Try not be to be too long, I don't want to be stuck on babysitting duty forever."

"Uh... I'll try."

"Great, I'm doomed," he says as he walks away, clearly not convinced.

"I'm not a kid," Damian says.

"You keep telling yourself that concussion boy."

Anyway... as I look back towards the others I see they're making their way into The Bat, I follow a little behind. The ship looks about the same size as The Robin on the outside, which is pretty big. But as I walk in, it instantly feels more spacious. The others turn left at the entrance, but curiosity gets the better of me, so I turn right and I start to look around the ship. I'm sure the others don't need my help with Penguin, especially not the Batgirls...

"Ah great! The gang's arrived!" I hear Penguin yell from the other side of the ship.

Well the kitchen's about the same, more food in it though.

"He told you much yet, Steph?" asks Barbara.

Wait, they have four bedrooms? One each! How did they fit the extra one in? Although I don't think Dick minds sharing with Damian.

"Well he definitely had no idea who we were, or that we were following him. Knew all about the guys though-"

"That's right," he says, "Dick Grayson and his merry failures: Jason Todd, Timothy Dr- Uuuph!"

"Anyway," says Steph. Huh? Did she just interrupt him right on my name? Is it weird to be flattered by that?

"He refuses to give us his real name, insisting that it's actually 'Penguin'. But he did tell us that this was their base," she continues, "Like we thought. Apparently they blew it up to remove evidence before they move to their new one, expansion and all that. Jason and the kid were just kind of unlucky to show up at the wrong time."

They even have a fancier bathroom, I bet a nice bath would be really relaxing in here. They probably don't worry about how much water they use either.

"Story of their life I hear," Penguin groans.

"Come on big guy," Steph says, "don't make this harder for yourself. All we need to know now, is where the stolen goods are, then we'll leave you alone."

"And until then?" he asks through what sounds like gritted teeth.

"Cass..."

"No! No! Okay, I give!" he screams.

I guess I should see what's going on then, my little exploration just made me more jealous anyway.

"So, where are they?" Steph asks.

"They're in a vault."

"And where's the vault?"

I finally join the others, they probably didn't even notice I was-

CREEEEEEEEEEEK

Oh! So their ship creeks a bit too, I guess it's not all- oh... I look up. I guess they did notice now...

"You were saying, Penguin," Steph says to get the interrogation back on track.

"It's halfway across Mars, in Cobblepot Tower. They're holding a ball there tomorrow, a huge celebration, we were going to have our grand opening on the same night, it felt right, poetic almost."

"What do you mean grand opening? What link do you have with Cobblepot Tower? Why would they let you store your goods there? Why would you want to store them there? What were you going to-"

"Steph," Barbara interrupts, "getting a little carried away."

"Right, sorry," she replies, blushing slightly. Did she just look at me?

"Now, where were we? Oh yeah," she says, turning her interrogation mode back on, "Why were you storing the goods in Cobblepot Tower?"

"That's none of your business!" he growls.

"Ouch, is it a personal reason? Have I struck a nerve? You know speaking of nerves, Cassandra here knows how to-"

"God damn it, fine! It was the perfect plan, who would suspect that we would be using a legitimate building and landmark such as Cobblepot Tower as our base of operations? Not even the Cobblepots would know! All I had to do was bribe the night security, they're the only people there in the evening, then they would allow us to hold meetings and move our goods in and out at night. Happy now? Can you just keep that crazy girl away from me?"

"Maybe, but that's not quite a perfect plan though, is it? It doesn't all add up."

"What are you talking about? Do you not realise the potential-"

"Well what if someone wants to use the vault during the day? Or one day someone other than the security is there at night?" Steph prods.

"I- uh," Penguin looks down at his feet, "I hadn't thought about that..."

"Yeah, you didn't really think that through, did you? Criminals these days," she sighs before turning to us, "well, I think we got what we need."

"Good job Steph, you too Cass. The ball sounds like a pretty fun time to find those goods and get the bonus on the bounty," Barbara says.

"BONUS?!" Dick replies, "What bonus?"

"The one for finding and returning the stolen goods? Did you even read all the information about the bounty?"

I resist the urge to face palm.

That's so embarrassing, how did we miss that? Please don't let Steph think I'm an idiot for not noticing, I'm meant to be the guy that remembers that stuff!

"I'm sure this isn't the only bounty they're working on, it's easy to forget small details," Steph says, coming to the rescue, "the more important question is, how are we going to get into that ball? I'm sure they're not just letting random strangers in."

"Oh that's easy, we can look up the kinds of people that are going and I'll make some fake IDs similar to those. If we look good and rich enough, no one is going to be suspicious," Barbara explains.

"I've never been to a ball before!" Tiffany yells excitedly.

Well... that was an enlightening interrogation, I didn't even watch half of it and I'm impressed. Steph is really cool, she knows what she's doing, doesn't think I'm an idiot and thanks to Barbara I get to go to a ball with her- Oh... I'm uh, going to a ball with Steph... Should I ask her if... um, I hope I have a nice suit...

I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump before I realise it's Dick, he gives me a wink.

"Don't worry, I've got a nice suit for you. We'll fit right in."

EVERY TIME!


	3. Tip of the Iceberg: Part Three

**Dick's POV**

"Why do I have to wear a suit? You're not even letting me go to the ball," Damian moans as I help him adjust his tie.

"I didn't say you couldn't go to the ball, I said you can't go until we've retrieved the goods and know it's safe. Can't have you getting into any trouble with a concussion," I clarify as I poke his forehead before I finish with his tie, "There! You look adorable."

"I get why the brat can't go, but remind me again why I have to stay with him?" Jason says from the doorway of our bedroom.

"Because while you keep saying you just have a headache, you might have a concussion, and Damian definitely has one. And someone who has recently suffered a concussion needs to be under constant supervision, in case of-" Tim tries to explain, before Jason interrupts him.

"Alright, alright. I asked Dick, not the little genius. But Penguin will be here, so that's someone-" Now it's my turn to interrupt.

"You do realise the other reason you're staying is to watch over Penguin, as our prisoner. Which I think makes much more sense than your idea of our prisoner, watching over an injured member of our team. Besides, I didn't think a ball would really be your thing."

"Well it's not," he says as he starts to walk away, "I just wanted some of the free food."

With Jason out of the way, I finally get a good look at Tim in his suit.

"Oh wow, Timmy. It's perfect, I didn't think it would fit so well, I bought it a little while ago..." I say as I put my hands on his shoulders, starting to inspect it.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask actually. Why exactly did you buy us all suits?"

"Well I only bought one for you and Damian each, me and Jason still had fancy enough clothes from a few previous missions where they were necessary. But if I learned one thing from my time with Bruce, it's that a suit can always come in handy. So occasionally, it's worth sacrificing some of my own food money to get my little brothers a useful present."

"Oh... I didn't realise you-"

"Don't worry about it, Tim. The important thing is that you put this to good use and have a great time with Steph today."

He starts to blush, "Uh, yeah... thanks," he says before giving me a huge grin and diving in for a hug, which usually I'd love but-

"Careful there, Timmy. Kind of winded me, that burrito still isn't sitting well with my stomach. Little warning next time?" I cough before returning the favour.

"Sorry," he loosens up a little, "Just not too often that you get a sudden urge to hug someone, you know?"

"Haha, if you think that doesn't happen often to me, then I don't think you know me at all," I reply as we both start to laugh and release from the embrace.

"GUYS!" we hear Jason shout from the other side of the ship, "The Batgirls are coming with our prisoner! And they look good!"

"Uh, coming I guess!" Tim shouts back as he gives me one last look, "And thanks again, Dick," he says before leaving to join Jason.

"Uh hum!" I hear from behind me, before turning around to see Damian looking at me with a focused expression.

"I suppose... I should also say thank you, Grayson. For everything..."

I try to hold myself back to save him the embarrassment but an "Awwwwww" still finds a way to escape from my mouth. He looks away.

"Do you want a hug too, Dami?" I ask, holding my arms out.

"I suppose as a form of repayment I co-" is all he can say before I go in. He remains pretty stiff with his arms at his side, but loosens up a little after a few seconds. I'm going to hold on until he says-

"I believe enough time has passed Grayson, you can let go now..."

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I release him from my arms.

"I'll try and make sure we actually complete the mission quickly this time, so you can join us as soon as possible," I tell him as I try to give an assuring smile.

"-tt- Unlikely."

Not today it's not, I'm determined to make this go well. No more comparing us to the Batgirls. Which reminds me, that's just what I'm about to do.

"Come on, let's go see if the Batgirls dress up as well as we do."

Damian doesn't reply but follows me, we reach the main hall of the ship as Tim opens the door for them.

I can't help but say "Wow..." as they stride in. Barbara is wearing a beautiful cream dress. Cassandra's is black and form fitting, her ability to fight in it clearly kept in mind. Tiffany is wearing a white dress with a long skirt, which she looks noticeably excited to be wearing. And Steph is wearing a long purple dress that seems to practically flow in the wind. It takes me a minute to notice Penguin with them, his hands and feet tied as he gives me a deadly glare, but I've had plenty of practise dealing with those from Damian.

"Come on," Barbara says as she drags him forward into the ship, "This is your new home for today."

His eyes start to wander over my brothers, and that's what irks me. He can give me those stares all he likes, but if he even tries to lay a finger on one of-

"Don't worry," Jason says as he puts his arm over Penguin's shoulder, before shoving him into the wall, "We'll take real good care of you."

"Anyway," I say trying to move on, "You all look wonderful."

"Thanks, I can see your brothers dress up just as well as you do. So we better get going, we'll have plenty of time to chat there."

"Right," I say as Barbara and the rest of the Batgirls turn to leave the ship, Tim following them. I look to Jason, "I trust you to have everything under control here."

"Of course," he replies with wave.

I look to Damian standing at a distance from Jason and Penguin, "We'll be as fast as possible, honest, no time wasting."

He gives me a "-tt-" before I turn to follow the others, the ship's door closing behind me.

**Tim's POV**

I'm too nervous the entire time it takes for us to walk to the ball to say anything to Steph, I manage to give her a smile, which she returns. As we enter the ballroom I stop and look around in awe. There are chandeliers, a grand piano, a string quartet, countless tables with incredible decorations, even the floor has a shine to it. And tons of people, all very well dressed, they all look really quite comfortable as they drink from their no doubt priceless glasses, this is clearly a common occurrence for them. I haven't been somewhere this fancy since... well since my parents died, and even then they only took me to somewhere like this once or twice. I'm really lucky Dick got me this suit otherwise we'd really stick out, I should thank him aga- Wait, where'd he go?

As I look to my left where Dick was standing, I realise that everyone's gone and carried on without me. That is, until I feel someone grab my right hand.

"Come on, I know it's pretty but maybe we should get a closer look," Steph says with a smile as I turn and look her in the eyes. I didn't realise how much my hand was sweating until she started holding it.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," I reply trying to give a smile back to distract from my embarrassment, I don't think it worked though as my cheeks start to feel warm and she giggles.

We walk to a table together, still holding hands, both grabbing quite a few snacks and non-alcoholic drinks on the way. I've tried some before but I don't think now would be the time to do so again, after all we are on a mission... which I'd almost completely forgotten about. I look around as we sit down, trying to find Dick or the other Batgirls. I check the dance floor first, remembering how good of a dancer Dick is, but it's mostly empty right now, then I start to look at the buffet but still no sight, then-

"Dick's just there," Steph says as she grabs my shoulder and points to a table across the room. I see him there, sitting with Barbara, they look like they're already having a good time... Which is exactly what I should be doing, I need to get over the embarrassment and just enjoy my time here.

"So..." I start to say as I turn back to Steph, "had any interesting missions lately?"

"There was one involving a flying dog that was kinda crazy, but," she stops and holds my hand again, "I'm enjoying this one more."

I let out a nervous chuckle.

"And you have a new recruit apparently," I say, trying to move on, a habit I must have picked up from Dick.

"Yeah, Tiffany. She's sweet, got a lot of potential too. We'd seen her a few times when we went to Lucius for repairs. She'd always get so excited to see us and now that Lucius thinks she's old enough, how could we say no to taking her along. How's your new recruit? I hear from Babs he's a real charmer."

"Well... he's actually kinda nice sometimes, I mean he's a jerk most of the time, but sometimes... anyway he definitely has potential. He doesn't like me very much though, maybe he sees me as competition or something, I'm not sure. But I like to think we're warming to each other, well I'm warming to him at least, as long as we're not left alone. From everything I heard about Bruce, I didn't expect his son to be so... actually now that I think about it, Dick always does describe him as putting a bit of a shield up, but I think the warm core would probably be more noticeable. But it is Dick who tells me these things, he reads people so well, so maybe it would just be the same to me. But yeah, he's uh, he's a charmer," I say with some more nervous laughter.

"I'm sure it'll all work out, it somehow always does for you guys," she says as she stands up.

"Uh, what are you-"

"Would you care to dance with me, Timothy Drake?" she asks, lifting my hand up.

"Why of course," I reply, as I get up and walk towards the dance floor with her, "Well, I'll try at least."

**Damian's POV**

"So neither of you have anything to say? You're happy to just sit here in silence?" Todd asks, he's been pacing across the room for the last few minutes. I look at him, then go back to watching the tied up Penguin from my chair, Grayson doesn't want me to over exert myself. I hardly think standing for a while would count, but it is likely to be a long time until they return.

"I knew this would be boring, but this is unreal," Todd continues as he walks over to the fridge, "Oh great, and we're out of food. So I'll have to wait until they come back and hope they bring me some. Fantastic."

I turn to glare at him again, before I return to watching Penguin. He's been focussed on me, that much is obvious, but I don't know why. While Todd's been wasting his energy moaning, I have been having a battle of wits, which of course I will win by working out what this fool wants with me. It's only a matter of time before-

"You know what, everything seems fine here, Penguin's tied up, he can't cause any harm, I could just go to the ball..."

So predictable.

"Go ahead, I can't wait to be free of your whining," I tell him.

"My whi- Fine."

He opens the side door and looks back at me, contemplating the decision he is inevitably about to make.

"You know how to contact me?" he asks, knowing the answer.

"Of course."

With that, he closes the door, leaving Penguin and I alone, finally. I can see his body relax, he's also happy to be free of Todd, as I suspected.

"Now that it's just us kid, maybe we can talk?" he suggests, his stone faced expression replaced with a grin.

"Depends. Do you have anything interesting to say?" I ask, leaning my head onto my hand.

"Oh I think you could be very interested, I did some digging on you and your 'brothers'. And I think we have a lot in common."

"And why exactly would I care about that?" I retort.

"Because I have some life advice for you, kid."

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry, you're right. I understand how that can be patronizing, I mean look at me, I get people calling me lots of names I'd prefer not to repeat. But sometimes that can be an advantage, people underestimate me, think I'm just a nut job. Like those Batgirls, all I had to do was dial up the desperate criminal angle and they eat it up. I'm sure you get something very similar with your age. See? We do have a lot in common," he says as his grin turns into a sharp toothy smile.

"We're not alike in any way, you're just a lowlife criminal."

"You're confident, you have every right to be. I know how much more capable you already are than your 'brothers', I know your heritage. But looking for your father, it's a waste of time."

"-tt- If you truly understood how capable I am, the potential I have, and my heritage... then you'd know to be more careful about what you say," I reply as I give him a glare, gripping my chair now and leaning forward.

"No you misunderstand, I'm not insulting your life choices, I get it. I was abandoned by my father too-"

"My father didn't abandon me," I growl.

"Listen, it may not have been on purpose, but you were abandoned. Left alone in a situation you didn't deserve. And that I can truly understand. In my case, my father did know what he was doing. He was a very wealthy man not unlike yours, but he couldn't see my potential, when he looked at me all he could see was a monster. So he left me on the streets to die, but a couple people who you would consider 'lowlife criminals' saved me, they raised me. It was years later that I would find out who my father was, my so called 'family'. When we finally met... let's just say it was bitterly disappointing. Here's my advice, forget your father, find your own family. Maybe it's those people you call brothers, or maybe... it's with me."

"Did you actually think you could manipulate me by coming up with that story? I'd never work with someone like you."

"Well, it was worth a shot trying to do things the nice way. That story's not made up, today is the day I get revenge on the Cobblepots, and I'm not letting you or your brothers get in my way."

He stands up, I do the same.

"What are you-"

"I told you not to underestimate me, kid," he says as he lifts his arms apart, revealing his broken ties.

I'll have to call the others with my communicator, but I need to wait for an opening, so I ready myself for a fight.

"Then you should be careful not to make the same mistake," I reply.

His smile returns before he charges towards me, trying to bring me down to the ground so he can use his weight against me. My reaction time is much slower than usual right now, thankfully I still manage to dodge to the left just in time. But Penguin slashes at my ear with his hand as he passes, ripping my communicator out before stomping on it, shattering it to pieces.

"No calling for help like your brother did, this is just you and me."

He approaches me slowly this time, I start to back away towards the door of the ship. As he gets within striking distance, I kick his knee causing his leg to give in, but he uses the momentum as he stumbles to fall towards me. He grabs me by the neck with both hands and pins me against the wall, my head whacking into it as he does.

My brain feels like it's going to explode as he starts to tighten his grip and cut off my air. I lift my knee as swiftly as I can and hit him right on the chin, as his grip temporarily loosens I rip his hands away from my throat and give him a kick to the face. The harsh drop to the floor afterwards brings my headache back to the front of my mind. But I push through and start to lift myself off the ground, just enough to uppercut Penguin's groin with as much strength as I have, growling as I do it.

He drops to the floor with a growl not dissimilar to mine. With this new opening, I try to focus my attention on the door again, but everything's starting to get blurry. I manage to stand and step over Penguin, reaching for the door handle. I grab it, but-

THUMP!

"Uhn!" I wince as I fall against the door, I manage to regain my balance by leaning on it with my arm. There's an intensely sharp pain in the back of my head, I put my hand against it then bring it back in front of my face. Ugh, as I suspected, blood. I look down at my feet and notice a now cracked helmet, he must have thrown it at me. I try to grab the door handle once again with my now bloody hand but miss as I start to see double. I try again and manage to grab the right one this time, but Penguin grabs my ankle and yanks me towards him. I can't hold onto the door as I get dragged down onto the floor.

He crawls on top of me and grips my throat once again, he grits his now blood stained teeth as he starts to squeeze. I try to grab at his face but my arms aren't long enough, I change approach and manage to kick one of his arms out of the grip. I barely have time to gasp for air as Penguin starts to pummel my face with both of his fists like a hammer. After each blow things get blurrier and blurrier, it gets harder to focus or use any of my muscles. I just lie there until he stops, I'm still conscious when he finally does. I watch him stand above me, my vision now tinted red with blood.

"I see your potential, kid," he starts, panting for air as he speaks, "If you weren't already injured, this could have gone the other way. So I'm going to be generous and spare your life, I can't say the same for your brothers. I want you to lie there and know that I'm about to walk into that building and kill every last one of them, hell I've already started. You know that food and drink that your friend Jason was so desperate for? It's all poisoned, just the distraction I need," he stops briefly and looks at the door before looking back down to me, "I'm going to leave now, if you want to come and join me in the future, I'd be more than happy to accept someone as talented as you into my ranks. If you want to come looking for revenge, I'd think twice. Good luck finding yourself a family, kid. You're going to need a new one."


	4. Tip of the Iceberg: Part Four

**Dick's POV**

"It's been a long time since we've done something like this," Barbara says as we hold hands from across the table.

"I bet you remember the last time like it was yesterday though," I reply with a smile.

"The view of the sky was beautiful that night, that was a classic Dick Grayson date."

"What do you mean by that?" I laugh.

"Do you honestly not realise?"

"No, tell me."

"Dick, you only take people on two kinds of dates. Mission dates, like this one, or you go to a high up place with a great view. You've always loved heights, you can't help yourself."

"Huh, I think you're right."

"Of course I am," she says, taking a drink from her glass.

I look at the buffet behind us and then back to Barbara.

"Well we're in a unique situation here where good food is actually available for a so called 'mission date', do you want me to get you some?"

"That depends, are you going to have anything?" she asks.

"Uh..." I look down and pat my stomach, "that will have to be a no. I may have eaten a gas station burrito the other day and-"

My explanation is cut off by Barbara chuckling and shaking her head.

"I told you to stay away from those things."

"But they taste so good!" I reply.

"That's probably just because you know they're bad for you," she smiles.

"You're so right, but I so don't care, the stomach irritation is worth it!"

"Well if you're not having anything, I guess I'll just have to stick with this very expensive wine," she says, pouring some more into her glass.

"I see that Cassandra's on Tiffany duty," I mention as I look over to Cassandra who seems to be trying to scout the place out, while an excited Tiffany slowly pulls her towards the dance floor.

"Yeah... usually that would be Stephanie's job but she's busy tonight," she says, pointing to Tim and Steph as they also start to walk towards the dance floor. I turn back to Barbara as she gives me a look I recognise.

"You know I'd love to dance with you Barbara, but I promised Damian we'd finish this mission up as quickly as possible so he can join. I promise we'll have all night to do so afterwards, how about that?"

"That sounds like a deal to me," she says with an alluring smile, "That's another classic Dick Grayson thing."

"No way, I love to dance!"

"Not that," she says with a laugh, "Sacrificing for your friends. It's one of my favourite things about you."

"My family," I correct, "And it's not just that, I don't want you guys showing us up this time. We're capable too, you know?"

"I'm sorry for what I said about that yesterday."

"Sorry about what? Telling me to get my act together? You were right Babs, we make a real mess of all of our jobs. You're never screwing up so much that you wonder if you'll even get the reward, we do that all the time!"

"But you always find a way to get the job done. I know you, you're not a quitter. Sure you sometimes have problems finishing enough jobs to pay the bills, but everyone works differently, all at different speeds. That doesn't make one person better than the other."

I put my head in my hands, "I know that, and a little while ago I really believed it. But sometimes lately, I just wonder if I'm doing a good enough job. For the others, not for me, I don't know if I'm setting the best example or just setting them up for failure."

"Dick, I feel like that all the time," she says, gently prying my hands away from my face.

"You do? Why?" I ask.

"It's just something that goes with the job of caring for other people, for your family. Look over there," she says, directing my head to the dance floor, "They look happy, right? And healthy? That's all that matters, Dick."

I sit there for a few seconds, watching Tim slowly grow more confident in his dancing with Steph, Cass letting Tiffany stand on her feet as she dances, just taking in the image before turning back to Barbara.

"I guess I've been beating myself up over nothing, huh?"

"Don't worry, we all do it sometimes," she says as she starts to hold my hand again, "that's why we have friends to point us in the right direction."

After that, we just stare into each other's eyes for a while, before Babs breaks the silence.

"Now, come on. You said you wanted to finish this quickly, so that's what we'll do. First thing is to find that vault."

**Jason's POV**

As I walk into the ballroom, the first thing I do is look for Dick, I can't let him see me or he'll just lecture me about leaving Damian on his own. I'm sure the brat's fine, he can handle himself, and Penguin's tied up. I spot him sitting at a table with Barbara, then make sure to stay out of his line of sight as I make my way towards the food. I'll just grab some of this, and that, oh and a couple of these, yeah that's good. Okay, I'll eat this as I look for the vault, if I can't find it in... I don't know maybe fifteen minutes, I'll go back and check on Damian. Then I'll just have to hope the threat of Damian also getting a talk from Dick will stop him ratting me out.

I start to check the hallways leading out of the ballroom one by one, trying to look as unsuspicious as possible, while also staying out of Dick's sight. Which I think goes well for the first hallway, where I spot absolutely nothing. Then as soon as I get back to the ballroom, Dick's gone, I can't see him anywhere. He must be checking around like I am, but he left the others on the dance floor... I'll just have to be more careful when I turn corners not to run into him I guess.

So I continue my search, once again trying to look as unsuspicious as possible while checking behind paintings and through doors, now also having to be careful with every corner and room I enter not to run into Dick. I realise how much work this is, and start to consider going back to the ship when I hear something from around the next corner. I know I've heard the sound before but I can't quite pinpoint it. I carefully peek around and spot the vault I've been looking for, the entrance is the size of a normal door and definitely cracked open right now, that's when it hits me... penguin feet, the sound of penguin feet on the floor! Penguin's goons are inside there.

As I get out a couple batarangs my stomach rumbles, quite loudly. Then the noises from the vault stop. Crap! My stomach's getting me into all kinds of trouble today. With my plan to surprise them out the window, I wait for a couple minutes to see if anyone leaves the vault. But nothing happens, there's just silence. I consider calling for Dick, but then he'd know I left Damian... Screw that, I can do this on my own, it's just a few of the penguin guys.

I creep towards the door and gently lean against it, readying myself to jump around and throw these things at the first two people I see. I take one deep breath as quietly as possible, then my stomach starts to rumble again.

"God damnit!" I yell as I hop around the door and hit two of the Penguin's guys with the batarangs, "Stupid stomach blowing my cover ag- oh... shit."

"Jason, I was wondering when you'd arrive," Penguin says with that annoying toothy grin as he sits on a pile of his stolen goods, pointing a gun towards me, "Come inside, slowly, I'd advise you not to put up as much of a fight as your brother did, it would end just as badly."

As I follow his orders, I look at the one man of his I didn't bring down, he's easily recognisable with those flippers for arms, Dick warned us not to mess with him. Then I notice the blood on Penguin's face, his nose and mouth look even more screwed up than before. Damian really didn't go down without a fight, but I shouldn't have left him, I really fucked up this time!

"He better not be dead, because I can guarantee you if he is, things will end much worse for you than me," I growl, as I start to feel light headed. I stumble a little as Penguin directs me into the corner. What's going on? First my stomach, now-

"I don't think you'll be in any condition to hurt me, Jason. The poison from the food and drink seems to already be taking affect. Now wait there until your bro-"

"POISON?" we hear from the hallway, Penguin's head darts to the entrance. I try to take advantage of the distraction and grab his gun, but fall to the ground before I catch up to him as my muscles seem to give up.

"And here they are, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon. Please, come in."

**Dick's POV**

Poison, that explains why Barbara started to feel a bit weak halfway during our search. I slowly wheel her inside as Penguin points his gun at us. As my stomach starts to rumble, Penguin's grin grows even wider. Of course Jason left him and Damian on their own! I should have seen that coming... I swear when I find out what he did to Damian, he'll endure an equal amount of pain. No one hurts my brothers, no one. I look down at Jason on the floor, he looks like he's in a lot of pain himself right now, must have eaten a lot of the food.

"Now what's going to happen is simple, you're going to stay there while the poison starts to affect everyone in the building. Then when you and everyone else are too weak to move, we'll commence the extermination."

"Extermination?" I ask, giving him a furious glare as I clench my fists.

"Well we're going to kill everyone in the building-"

"But why? What do you even have to gain from doing that? I thought the whole point of this was so that your hideout would be hard to find? Poisoning a bunch of rich people does the exact opposite. Also, how they hell did you even get in here looking like that?"

"You bounty hunters are so arrogant," he lets out some mixture of a growl and a chuckle, "you think all criminals are stupid, as if that's why they don't follow the law. But the truth is, we just weren't all blessed with good looks and loving parents. All I had to do to fool your little group was to pretend to be an idiot, as if I hadn't thought of all the possibilities. I didn't care about this being secret, and I bribed all of the security, not just the night crew, I want the world to know about what happens here today. This here, the building my father cherishes more than anything, his legacy... it's mine now. And after all the rich snobs in this building die thanks to their own greed and we seize Cobblepot Tower, I'll finally have my revenge. The legacy of this building will forever be linked to me, the son he abandoned! And I'll have my revenge on you. Because I made a promise to your little brother that I intend to fulfil. You're going to lie there helpless as I murder your brothers in front of your eyes, knowing there's nothing you can-"

"See that's where you're wrong, Penguin. You might be right about criminals and bounty hunters, I know we've certainly made plenty of mistakes to be standing here right now, but there's no way I'm letting you hurt my brothers any more than you already have."

"And how exactly are you going to stop me? When the poison takes full effect you'll-"

I smile with a mix of pity and rage.

"I didn't eat any of the food."

His face drops.

"But your stomach, I heard it!"

"Oh that? Gas station burrito," I say, patting my stomach, "it's been rumbling all day. But unluckily for you, I think I might have finally digested it."

I quickly get out my escrima sticks and toss one to Barbara, "You have enough energy to knock this guy senseless, Babs?"

"I think I can go a couple rounds," she replies as I dash towards Penguin.

BANG!

He fires his gun at me, but I manage to knock it upwards just in time to send the bullet into the ceiling, before shoving my elbow into his ribs. He steps backwards, clutching his side in pain with his free hand. I go in for another strike before-

WHACK!

Penguin's right hand flipper man hits me on the head, forcing me to the ground. It gets harder to focus as I start to feel dizzy, but I manage to look up to see Penguin aiming his gun at me.

THWIP! BANG!

I flinch from the noise, it takes me a second to realise, I'm not dead... I look up again to see Barbara wheeling herself as fast as she can into Penguin, attempting to clothesline him which doesn't quite work. But it causes him to slip on some of the stolen goods at his feet and fall into the wall, Barbara follows up by knocking him around with the escrima stick.

"Dick! I've got Penguin, focus on the big guy!" she yells, bringing me back to my senses a little.

I roll on the ground, hearing the impact of Flippy's foot as it lands right where my head was a second ago. I leap back to my feet and manage to get a blow in on the back of his head before he can react. It looks like it was a good hit as he starts to shake, that should level the playing field a bit. I try to take advantage and sweep his legs before he can focus, but he swings one of his flippers into my side, stopping me in my tracks.

He attempts to follow it with an overhead swing with both of them, but I manage to hop out of the way just in time. I then kick his right flipper as he brings it back up, thinking I might be able to weaken his main weapon, but it backfires as all I get is terrible pain in my foot. Those things are hard! The situation goes from bad to worse as I bring my foot back down and stumble as I find myself unable to put any pressure on it. Flippers notices this and uses the opportunity to slap my back with a lot of strength, bringing me down to the ground again.

Always with the same move! God damn it, get up Grayson! You've got to keep fighting, if you don't, your family's going to die! I sit up and see Mr. Flippy towering above me. Through his legs I notice Barbara in a struggle with Penguin over his gun, normally I'd put odds on Barbara winning that, but with the poison taking affect, even if she only ingested a little... Wait, through his legs, the ultimate weak spot!

I look up at Sir Flippington and grin, his expression goes from determination, to confusion, to agony as I use all my strength to uppercut him between the legs. I stand up as he drops backwards to the floor, attempting to clutch the area in pain, but all he can manage to do is whack it again with his flipper.

"I'm done playing with you, guy," I say as I look down and kick him in the side of the head with my good foot, knocking him out cold.

"DICK!" I hear Barbara yell.

My eyes dart to Penguin as he points his gun directly at my head, Babs lying on the floor behind him. I flinch once again as-

BANG!

"AAAAAAaaaaahhhhh!"

I... huh? That wasn't me... I open my eyes and see Penguin clutching a now bleeding hand, looking at the batarang that's gone right through it as his gun lies on the ground. I notice Barbara's shocked expression as she looks towards the door, I turn around to see Damian leaning against the door frame, his face covered in blood.

"No one threatens to kill my brothers, but me," he says, panting.

"Damian... What did he do to you?" I ask, my voice cracking as I start to tear up.

He slips down to the floor, appearing to lose his strength.

"It's okay, I... I saved you," he says.

He saved me... but that's not his job, I should have been the one to save him! I never should have let this happen!

I ball up my fists as blood rushes to my head.

"This is your fault, Penguin," I growl as I turn back to the man who hurt my brother, who forced him to push himself all the way here with god knows how many injuries!

Before I know it, I'm already wailing on him, landing punch after punch on his head.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?" I find myself yelling, "YOU MADE A PROMISE? WELL I PROMISE TO BEAT YOU UNTIL YOUR FACE IS SO COVERED IN BLOOD, ALL YOU'LL SEE IS-"

Someone grabs my hand.

"Dick!" I hear them yell.

I stop. I look at my hand and realise it's Barbara holding onto me, I stare at her.

"You've done enough, Dick. I understand you're angry, but you can stop now."

I turn my attention back to Penguin and notice that we're both on the ground and his face is now covered with blood, my hands are in a similar state.

For a while I just look at him and breath, lots of deep breaths. I know I shouldn't have snapped like that, but I can't get the image of Damian's bloody face out of my mind.

"Come on," Barbara says, snapping me out of my thoughts as she climbs back into her chair, "I don't think these guys are getting up any time soon. Let's get some help for everyone."

"Yeah... we need to check on the others."

Barbara makes her way to the ballroom to contact the police and get some medics as I help Jason and Damian up, taking on as much of their weight as possible so we can all limp there together.

"Sorry," I say to them as we go through the hallway, "I should... Well I should be setting a better example than that."

"You're kidding me, right?" Jason replies, "After what he did, he got what he deserved. You didn't kill him, I'm not sure I can say I wouldn't have in that situation."

"-tt- We all know that either of us would have finished him-"

"But you didn't, Dami. You could have with that one shot, but you went for his hand instead. I'm proud of you for that. You guys may not believe in yourselves, but I do, you're good people, remember that."

"I obviously went for the hand as the only way to guarantee his shot would miss, it had nothing to do with wanting to spare his life."

"Give it up, brat," says Jason, "Face it, I guess we're all good people."

"Yeah" I smile, "I guess we are. Sometimes we just need someone to remind us, that's all."

"I was joking," Jason replies with his own smile.

"My point still stands."

"You're both idiots," Damian adds.

When we make it to the ballroom, I help Jason and Damian sit down before going to check on the others. I find them all lying on what was the dance floor, Cass is covering Tiffany in protection, but I explain they're safe now and help them into chairs. Then I go to Tim and Steph, who I find facing each other.

"Sorry your little date ended up like this," I say as I help them up like the others.

"That's okay," Steph says as she smiles at Tim, "Most of it was great."

"Yeah," he replies, "I had quite a lot of fun, even the dancing was good, you know, until it stopped."

"Glad to hear it, we'll have to arrange something like this again. Now you stay there, I'm going to help Babs with the medics and everything else," I say as I turn to walk away.

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere," Steph replies with a strained laugh.

As I catch up to Barbara, I join her in talking to the medics and the police. We explains the poison situation to them, and how from what Penguin said it sounded like it isn't lethal and just immobilises. The police then confirm this with Barbara's help using reports of local stolen drugs and chemicals by Penguin's gang. I ask the medics on how to treat it, they advise for everyone to just relax and stay hydrated until the effects wear off. The cops go to check on the Penguin and his stash to confirm our bounty reward.

When they drag Penguin out towards their ship and I look at his bloody face as he passes by, I feel no remorse for what I did to him. Which isn't something I'm used to, and I think Barbara realises I'm bothered by it as she offers me a distraction when she says-

"We should get the others into their beds."

And I gladly take it.

"Good idea," I say as we make our way towards our adopted families, "You okay? I know you didn't take in much of the stuff but-"

"I'm fine," she cuts off, "A little weak but nothing I can't handle. I'm not going to let it ruin my date" she says as she gives me a smile.

We help everyone into their beds, I take Damian back to the ship last as I have to clean his wounds. He's barely awake as I do it, and when I finally place him on his bed, I take a moment to watch all my brothers resting in turn. With all the things they had to go through today, I think about my worries earlier about us not being good enough, and they sound ridiculous to me now. As if my brothers could ever not be enough of anything. I love them, hell, I beat a man half to death for them. With that thought, the image of Damian's bloody face pops into my mind, but is quickly replaced by the peaceful one in front of me. I guess in the end, the day ended as I expected, everyone worn out from the excitement... but for me, there's one last thing to do.

I make my way to The Bat to find Barbara readying herself in the cockpit.

"Hey Babs, I don't want this to be how today ends, you know?"

"I do, but with everyone else in bed, what did you have in mind?"

"I'll show you. I'll get into The Robin, you follow me, okay?" I ask as I turn to leave.

"Whatever," she replies.

So we fly off, making sure to keep the ships as steady as possible to not disturb the others. I know about a perfect place, a hilltop where you can see almost the entire city across the horizon. As we arrive, I notice the sun is starting to set, almost as if I planned this from the start. I dart out as soon as we land, not wanting to miss the opportunity. Barbara tells me to calm down as I rush into The Bat and wheel her out. But as soon as I stop she understands.

"You only take people on two kinds of dates," she says.

"I think this view might even beat the last one. So, I believe I promised you a dance?"

"Not just a dance, Dick. You said we could dance all night."

"Well perfect timing then," I say as I take her hand, "The night's about to start."


End file.
